Cycling & Society 2017

1. Making the personal political
Overlaps in feminist theory and
cycle activism
Cycling and Society Symposium
8 August 2017 in London
Katja Leyendecker
PhD researcher
Northumbria University, GB
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2. Involvement & interest
The basis for my analysis
• Auto/ethnographic look at
newcycling.org (Newcastle’s local cycle
campaign) which I co-founded in 2010
• Reading of literature on feminism (as
part of my PhD)
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3. Involvement & interest
The basis for my analysis
• Auto/ethnographic look at
newcycling.org (Newcastle’s local cycle
campaign) which I co-founded in 2010
• Reading of literature on feminism (as
part of my PhD)
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4. Making it happen
Position in society / dominant paradigm / norm >> out/in
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Where does change come from? How does change happen?
Conceptualisation of change

5. The personal is political
Second wave
Researcher, personal experience
Truth/knowledge production
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Positivism
All can be known
Quantitative
All knowing
Objective outsider
Constructivism
Bits can be glimpsed
Qualitative/quant/mixed
Participant
Part of the equation
Epistemology :
Methods :
Researcher :

6. Experiencing the political
Conservative
Individual strength
Administrative
“You”
Name
Characteristic :
State role :
Action level :
Symbol :
Liberal
Societal learning
Educational
“Us”
Radical
Systems
Social-supportive
“Bigger than us”
Based on Stone (2001)
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Personal
responsibility
Socialnorm
Structural

7. Comparison to transport cycling
Transport cycling Feminism
Outcome : Social change
Dominant f/norm : Automobility Masculinity
Approach : Subjective/inclusive safety Personal experience
Framework : Include the environmental context
Socio-ecological model Social construction
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8. Comparison to transport cycling
 Transforming urban design = radical demands
 Social justice by radical demands
Campaigning
Political view …
Policy …
Strategy …
Demands…
Methods…
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Personal
responsibility
(conservative)
Socialnorm
(liberal)
Structural
(radical)

9. Conclusion
Parallels can be drawn between feminism and cycle campaigning
• History and progression
• Demands
• Approaches
In the UK (and elsewhere), cycle campaigning has undergone a
shift from liberal to more radical strategies and demands in recent
years
This shift necessitates new skills and strategies to be used and
explored :
• To orchestrate effective actions, cycle organisations should
adjust to new realities
• Needs collaborative working models and a sharing attitude
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10. Potpourrie of feminist authors
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Jean Baker Miller, Sharon Beder, Simone de Beauvoir, Liz
Bondi, Chris Booth, Judith Butler, Beatrix Campbell, Rachel
Carson, Nancy Chodorow, Raewyn Connell, Dorothy
Dinnerstein, Margrit Eichler, Carolyn Ellis, Nancy Fraser,
Betty Friedan, Clara Greed, Margaret Grieco, Sally Hacker,
Susan Hekman, Jane Jacobs , Jill Kirkup, Ursula Lehner-
Lierz, Jo Little, Judith Lorber, Doreen Massey, Linda
McDowell, Margarete Mitscherlich, Nancy A Naples, Kate
Nash , Ann Oakley, Laurie Pickup, Shulamit Reinharz, Helen
Roberts , Sue Sharpe, Dorothy E Smith, Rebecca Solnit,
Daphne Spain, Gloria Steinem, Deborah Stone, Deborah
Tannen, Elisabeth Wajcman, Carolyn Whitzman, Mary
Wollstonecraft, Sue Zielinski …

11. Abstract
I start from the point that a lack of conceptual oversight is one major trap
that cycle activism can be ensnared in – especially at a time when democracy
and democratic processes are in crisis. Where can cycle activists turn for
knowledge and ideas?
With that backdrop in mind “What can cycle activism learn from feminism?”
is a question worth asking: not only does feminism hold a rich and undulating
history of activism, it can also provide academic theory and concepts relevant
to cycle advocacy and academia. Employing feminist theory and revisiting the
history of feminism I want to draw out parallels to cycle activism. I also hope
to uncover new avenues for cycle activism to advance its radical cause for
social justice: happy citizens and their communities in healthy cities with
prospering local economies.
The basis for my analysis is an auto/ethnographic look at newcycling.org
(Newcastle’s local cycle campaign, founded in 2010). I will compare
newcycling.org’s origins and progress (its linkages with politics and
inter/national cycle activism) to radical feminist theory, thus plotting parallels,
overlaps, diversions and partings. In closing, learning from the comparison, I
will attempt to draw an outlook for an emancipated cycle activism.
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12. Thank you!
Katja Leyendecker
@katsdekker
katja.leyendecker@unn.ac.uk
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